A POLICE officer who downloaded a childhood photo of a rape victim in school uniform has failed in a bid for freedom.

Former sexual offences liaison officer, Martin Harris, of Perry Hill, Saltdean, was jailed for two years at Hove Crown Court in March.

The 38-year-old admitted misconduct in public office as well as making and possessing indecent images.

Harris joined Sussex Police in 2012, Mr Justice Knowles told London’s Appeal Court yesterday.

As a sexual offences liaison officer he was based at Brighton police station and working with vulnerable victims of domestic abuse and serious sex crimes.

A woman reported that she had been raped and, the next day, Harris took her to a sexual assault referral centre.

She had given police her Facebook password and Harris used it to access her account without her consent.

He downloaded images of her, including a photo of her aged 13 and wearing her school uniform.

Harris then sent the images to his personal email from his police account, later saying he did so because “he found her attractive”.

He also tried to access her email account and, when she received a notification that someone was attempting to do so, she “feared it was the rape suspect”.

When she found out Harris had downloaded the images from her Facebook account, she described it as a “complete breach of trust”.

In police interview, Harris admitted he had accessed photos of other victims and saved their images.

He was dismissed from the force in January, said the appeal judge.

Yesterday his barrister, Abigail Bright, argued that his jail term was far too long and should have been suspended.

She pointed to his 15 years of service to the public as a police officer and his “fall from grace”.

He had suffered “real hardships”, including the loss of his career and reputation and the break-up of his marriage.

Harris was “genuinely remorseful and truly regretful”, added the barrister.

But Mr Justice Knowles said: “These offences were so serious that only immediate custody was appropriate.

“He was in a public office which created a public responsibility. That responsibility was to those who were particularly vulnerable.”

Harris abused the “standard of trust” expected of him by using the victim’s password “for his personal sexual preferences”.

“The wider consequences for the public interest are large,” added the judge, who was sitting with two others. The presence of a single officer prepared to abuse his position in this way risks other vulnerable people losing confidence to work with the police.

“This could not be more serious where the areas of investigation are domestic abuse and serious sexual offences.”

It was “planned, manipulative and serious misconduct in public office,” said the judge.

“It undermines the confidence of those who trust the police to protect them as well as invading their privacy at a time of great vulnerability.”

Two years was “well within the range of sentences properly open” to the Crown Court judge, concluded Mr Justice Knowles.